Content delivering system

ABSTRACT

Herein disclosed is a content delivering system, comprising: a delivery server for delivering content data indicative of a predetermined content and a schedule for reproducing the content; and a content player for receiving the content data delivered by the delivery server, and reproducing the predetermined content in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content data at a content reproducing place, and in which the content player is operative to collect voices in the vicinity of the content reproducing place; and transmit voice information data indicative of the voices thus collected in the vicinity of the content reproducing place.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a content delivering system fordelivering a content through the internet, and more particularly to acontent delivering system comprising a delivery server for delivering acontent and a content player for reproducing the content wherein thecontent player is operative to collect information representing thepublic awareness of and responses to the content.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Up until now, there have been proposed a wide variety of contentdelivering systems each comprising a delivery server for delivering apredetermined content and a content player for reproducing the contentat a content reproducing place such as for example a large displayscreen mounted on a building, an electric bulletin board, or the like.The conventional content delivering systems of this kind have so farbeen available for various advertisement media. One typical example ofthe conventional content delivering system thus proposed is disclosed inthe Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-240205.

[0005] The role of the advertisement media is to let as many people aspossible know and raise the public awareness of the content. Theconventional content delivering system thus constructed as previouslymentioned, however, encounters a drawback that the public awareness ofand response to the content cannot be analyzed unless questionnairesurveys or telephone interviews are conducted by market researchers,thereby requiring enormous man-hours and expenses to evaluate the effectof the conventional content delivering system. Furthermore, during thequestionnaire surveys or telephone interviews, people surveyed orinterviewed tend to become nervous, thereby making it difficult for themarket researchers to elicit their true opinions on the content.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide acontent delivering system which comprises a delivery server fordelivering a predetermined content and a content player for reproducingthe content wherein the content player is operative to collectinformation representing the public awareness of and responses to thecontent, thereby enabling to evaluate the effect of the contentdelivering system without enormous man-hours and expenses.

[0007] In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, thereis provided a content delivering system, comprising: a delivery serverfor delivering content data indicative of a predetermined content and aschedule for reproducing the content; and a content player for receivingthe content data delivered by the delivery server, and reproducing thepredetermined content in accordance with the schedule on the basis ofthe content data at a content reproducing place, and in which thecontent player is operative to collect voices in the vicinity of thecontent reproducing place; and transmit voice information dataindicative of the voices thus collected in the vicinity of the contentreproducing place.

[0008] In the aforementioned content delivering system, at least one ofthe delivery server and the content player may include voice convertingmeans for converting the voices into character strings. The deliveryserver may include character string display means for displaying thecharacter strings. The delivery server may include evaluation chartcreating means for creating evaluation charts on the basis of thecharacter strings. The delivery server may include evaluation chartdisplay means for displaying the evaluation charts. The characterstrings may constitute a plurality of words, and the evaluation chartcreating means may be operative to create the evaluation charts bycounting the frequency of each of the words for a plurality of timezones.

[0009] In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention,there is provided a content delivering system, comprising: a deliveryserver for delivering content data indicative of a predetermined contentand a schedule for reproducing the content; and a content player forreceiving the content data delivered by the delivery server, andreproducing the predetermined content in accordance with the schedule onthe basis of the content data at a content reproducing place, and inwhich the content player is operative to record images in the vicinityof the content reproducing place; and transmit image information dataindicative of the images thus recorded in the vicinity of the contentreproducing place.

[0010] In the aforementioned content delivering system, the deliveryserver may include image display means for displaying the images. Thedelivery server may include evaluation chart creating means for creatingevaluation charts on the basis of the images. The delivery server mayinclude evaluation chart display means for displaying the evaluationcharts. The images may include thereon a plurality of people dividedinto a plurality of status groups, and the evaluation chart creatingmeans may be operative to create the evaluation charts by counting thenumber of people for each of the status groups for a plurality of timezones.

[0011] In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, thereis provided a content delivering system, comprising: a delivery serverfor delivering content data indicative of a predetermined content and aschedule for reproducing the content; and a content player for receivingthe content data delivered by the delivery server, and reproducing thepredetermined content in accordance with the schedule on the basis ofthe content data at a content reproducing place, and in which thecontent player is operative to collect voices and record images in thevicinity of the content reproducing place; and transmit voiceinformation data indicative of the voices thus collected and imageinformation data indicative of the images thus recorded in the vicinityof the content reproducing place.

[0012] In the aforementioned content delivering system, the deliveryserver may include voice converting means for converting the voices intocharacter strings, character string display means for displaying thecharacter strings, and image display means for displaying the images.The delivery server may include first evaluation chart creating meansfor creating first evaluation charts on the basis of the characterstrings, and second evaluation chart creating means for creating secondevaluation charts on the basis of the images. The character strings mayconstitute a plurality of words, the images may include thereon aplurality of people divided into a plurality of status groups, the firstevaluation chart creating means may be operative to create the firstevaluation charts by counting the frequency of each of the words for aplurality of time zones, and the second evaluation chart creating meansmay be operative to create the second evaluation charts by counting thenumber of people for each of the status groups for a plurality of timezones.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The present invention and many of the attendant advantagesthereof will be better understood from the following detaileddescription when considered in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

[0014]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the contentdelivering system according to the present invention;

[0015]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the contentdelivering system according to the present invention;

[0016]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a third embodiment of the contentdelivering system according to the present invention;

[0017]FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a fourth embodiment of the contentdelivering system according to the present invention;

[0018]FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a fifth embodiment of the contentdelivering system according to the present invention;

[0019]FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a sixth embodiment of the contentdelivering system according to the present invention;

[0020]FIG. 7 is an example of an evaluation chart crated on the basis ofcharacter strings; and

[0021]FIG. 8 is an example of an evaluation chart created on the basisof images.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0022] The following description will be directed to preferredembodiments of the content delivering system according to the presentinvention with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

[0023] The constitution of the first embodiments of the contentdelivering system according to the present invention will firstly bedescribed in detail hereinafter with reference to FIG. 1.

[0024] Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is shown a firstembodiment of a content delivering system comprising a delivery server10 for delivering content data indicative of a predetermined content anda schedule for reproducing the content; and a content player 20 forreceiving the content data delivered by the delivery server 10, andreproducing the predetermined content in accordance with the schedule onthe basis of the content data at a content reproducing place. In thecontent delivering system, the content player 20 is operative to collectvoices in the vicinity of the content reproducing place; and transmitvoice information data indicative of the voices thus collected in thevicinity of the content reproducing place.

[0025] The delivery server 10 comprises a content storage unit 11 forstoring therein content information data indicative of a predeterminedcontent, a schedule creating unit 12 for creating a schedule forreproducing the content, a schedule storage unit 13 for storing thereinschedule data indicative of the schedule created by the schedulecreating unit 12, and a data delivering unit 14 for delivering contentdata indicative of the content and the schedule on the basis of thecontent information data stored in the content storage unit 11 and theschedule stored in the schedule storage unit 13 to the content player 20through the internet 1.

[0026] The content player 20 comprises a data receiving unit 21 forreceiving the content data delivered from the delivery server 10, a datastorage unit 22 for storing therein the content data received by thedata receiving unit 21, a data reproducing unit 23 for reproducing thecontent in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content datastored in the data storage unit 22, a speaker unit 24 a for audiblyoutputting the content and a display unit 24 b for visually outputtingthe content. The speaker unit 24 a and the display unit 24 b are locatedat a content reproducing place such as for example an advertising tower.This means that the data reproducing unit 23 is operative to control thespeaker unit 24 a and the display unit 24 b to have the speaker unit 24a audibly reproduce and the display unit 24 b visually reproduce thecontent at the content reproducing place.

[0027] The content player 20 further comprises a voice collecting unit25 for collecting voices spoken by people in the vicinity of the contentreproducing place, a voice converting unit 26 for converting the voicescollected by the voice collecting unit 25 into character strings, and acharacter string transmitting unit 27 for transmitting character stringdata indicative of the character strings converted by the voiceconverting unit 26 to the delivery server 10 through the internet 1. Thevoice converting unit 26 constitutes voice converting means according tothe present invention.

[0028] The delivery server 10 further comprises a character stringreceiving unit 15 for receiving character string data transmitted by thecharacter string transmitting unit 27 of the content player 20, acharacter string storage unit 16 for storing therein the characterstring data, and a character string display unit 17 for displaying thecharacter strings on the basis of the character string data stored inthe character string storage unit 16. The character string display unit17 constitutes character string display means according to the presentinvention.

[0029] As will be seen from the above, there has been described only onecontent player 20 in the present embodiment of the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention for the purpose of simplifyingthe description and assisting in understanding about the whole operationof the content delivering system. In reality, the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention may comprise a plurality ofcontent players.

[0030] The delivery server 10 has a central processing unit, hereinlaterreferred to simply as a “CPU”, not shown in FIG. 1 for controlling thewhole operation of the delivery server 10. Similarly, the content player20 has a central processing unit, hereinlater referred to simply as a“CPU”, not shown in FIG. 1 for controlling the whole operation of thecontent player 20.

[0031] The following description will be directed to the processcontrolled by the CPUs of the delivery server 10 and the content player20 to employ the method of controlling the content delivering systemaccording to the present invention with no flowchart.

[0032] In the delivery server 10, the content storage unit 11 isoperated to store therein content information data indicative of acontent to be delivered to the content player 20. The contentinformation data stored in the content storage unit 11 may be in theformat of a still image file such as for example BMP, JPEG, or the like,and/or a moving image file such as for example MPEG or the like. Theschedule creating unit 12 is operated to create a schedule forreproducing the content on the basis of the content data stored in thecontent storage unit 11. The term “schedule” herein used is intended tomean a time at which the content is reproduced. The schedule storageunit 13 is operated to store therein schedule data indicative of theschedule created by the schedule creating unit 12. The data deliveringunit 14 is operated to deliver the content data through the internet 1.The content data is indicative of the content and the schedule forreproducing the content and created by the data delivering unit 14 onthe basis of the content information data stored in the content storageunit 11 and the schedule stored in the schedule storage unit 13 beforedelivered to the content player 20.

[0033] In the content player 20, the data receiving unit 21 is operatedto receive the content data delivered from the delivery server 10. Thedata storage unit 22 is operated to store therein the content datareceived by the data receiving unit 21. The data storage unit 22 may beconstituted by, for example, a hard disk having storage areas. The datareproducing unit 23 is operated to reproduce the content in accordancewith the schedule on the basis of the content data stored in the datastorage unit 22. The content is audibly outputted by the speaker unit 24a and visually outputted by the display unit 24 b at the contentreproducing place.

[0034] Furthermore, in the content player 20, the voice collecting unit25 is operated to collect voices spoken by people in the vicinity of thecontent reproducing place. The voice converting unit 26 is operated toconvert the voices collected by the voice collecting unit 25 intocharacter strings. The character string transmitting unit 27 is operatedto transmit character string data indicative of the character stringsconverted by the voice converting unit 26 to the delivery server 10through the internet 1.

[0035] Furthermore, in the delivery server 10, the character stringreceiving unit 15 is operated to receive the character string datatransmitted by the character string transmitting unit 27 of the contentplayer 20. The character string storage unit 16 is operated to storetherein the character string data. The character string display unit 17is operated to display the character strings on the basis of thecharacter string data stored in the character string storage unit 16.The character string display unit 17 may be constituted by, for example,a monitor.

[0036] The content server may be owned by an advertising agency.Alternatively, the character strings converted from the voices such asfor example “cool”, “uncool”, “lovely”, “unpretty”, or the likecollected at the content reproducing place may be provided to theadvertising agency as assessments of the public awareness of andresponses to the content.

[0037] From the foregoing description, it is to be understood that thefirst embodiment of the content delivering system according to thepresent invention comprising a delivery server for delivering contentdata indicative of a predetermined content and a schedule forreproducing the content; and a content player for receiving the contentdata delivered by the delivery server, and reproducing the predeterminedcontent in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content dataat a content reproducing place, and in which the content player isoperative to collect voices in the vicinity of the content reproducingplace; and transmit voice information data indicative of the voices thuscollected in the vicinity of the content reproducing place, can collectthe public awareness of and responses to the content represented by thevoices such as “cool”, “uncool”, “lovely”, “unpretty”, or the likespoken by the people at the content reproducing place, thereby enablingto evaluate the effect of the content delivering system without enormousman-hours and expenses.

[0038] While it has been described in the above that the content playercomprises voice converting means, the voice converting means may beincluded in the delivery server in place of the content server as longas at least one of the delivery server and the content player includesvoice converting means in the content delivering system according to thepresent invention.

[0039] Although there has been described in the above about the firstembodiment of the content delivering system according to the presentinvention, the first embodiment may be replaced by second to sixthembodiments of the content delivering system in order to attain theobjects of the present invention. The second to sixth embodiments of thecontent delivering system will then be described hereinlater.

[0040] Referring to FIG. 2 of the drawings, there is shown a secondembodiment of a content delivering system comprising a delivery server30 for delivering content data indicative of a predetermined content anda schedule for reproducing the content; and a content player 40 forreceiving the content data delivered by the delivery server 30, andreproducing the predetermined content in accordance with the schedule onthe basis of the content data at a content reproducing place. In thecontent delivering system, the content player 40 is operative to collectvoices in the vicinity of the content reproducing place; and transmitvoice information data indicative of the voices thus collected in thevicinity of the content reproducing place, and the delivery server 36has evaluation chart creating means constituted by an evaluation chartcreating unit 37 for creating evaluation charts on the basis of thecharacter strings.

[0041] The delivery server 30 comprises a content storage unit 31 forstoring therein content information data indicative of a predeterminedcontent, a schedule creating unit 32 for creating a schedule forreproducing the content, a schedule storage unit 33 for storing thereinschedule data indicative of the schedule created by the schedulecreating unit 32, and a data delivering unit 34 for delivering contentdata indicative of the content and the schedule on the basis of thecontent information data stored in the content storage unit 31 and theschedule stored in the schedule storage unit 33 to the content player 40through the internet 2.

[0042] The content player 40 comprises a data receiving unit 41 forreceiving the content data delivered from the delivery server 30, a datastorage unit 42 for storing therein the content data received by thedata receiving unit 41, a data reproducing unit 43 for reproducing thecontent in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content datastored in the data storage unit 42, a speaker unit 44 a for audiblyoutputting the content and a display unit 44 b for visually outputtingthe content. The speaker unit 44 a and the display unit 44 b are locatedat a content reproducing place such as for example an advertising tower.This means that the data reproducing unit 43 is operative to control thespeaker unit 44 a and the display unit 44 b to have the speaker unit 44a audibly reproduce and the display unit 44 b visually reproduce thecontent at the content reproducing place.

[0043] The content player 40 further comprises a voice collecting unit45 for collecting voices spoken by people in the vicinity of the contentreproducing place, a voice converting unit 46 for converting the voicescollected by the voice collecting unit 45 into character strings, and acharacter string transmitting unit 47 for transmitting character stringdata indicative of the character strings converted by the voiceconverting unit 46 to the delivery server 30 through the internet 2. Thevoice converting unit 46 constitutes voice converting means according tothe present invention.

[0044] The delivery server 30 further comprises a character stringreceiving unit 35 for receiving character string data transmitted by thecharacter string transmitting unit 47 of the content player 40, acharacter string storage unit 36 for storing therein the characterstring data, evaluation chart creating means constituted by anevaluation chart creating unit 37 for creating evaluation charts on thebasis of the character strings indicated by the character string datastored in the character string storage unit 36, and evaluation chartdisplay means constituted by an evaluation chart display unit 38 fordisplaying the evaluation charts created by the evaluation chartcreating unit 37. The character strings indicated by the characterstring data stored in the character string storage unit 36 constitute aplurality of words such as for example “cool”, “uncool”, “lovely”,“unpretty”, or the like. The evaluation chart creating unit 37 isadapted to create the evaluation charts by counting the frequency ofeach of the words for a plurality of time zones.

[0045] As will be seen from the above, there has been described only onecontent player 40 in the present embodiment of the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention for the purpose of simplifyingthe description and assisting in understanding about the whole operationof the content delivering system. In reality, the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention may comprise a plurality ofcontent players.

[0046] The delivery server 30 has a central processing unit, hereinlaterreferred to simply as a “CPU”, not shown in FIG. 2 for controlling thewhole operation of the delivery server 30. Similarly, the content player40 has a central processing unit, hereinlater referred to simply as a“CPU”, not shown in FIG. 2 for controlling the whole operation of thecontent player 40.

[0047] The following description will be directed to the processcontrolled by the CPUs of the delivery server 30 and the content player40 to employ the method of controlling the content delivering systemaccording to the present invention with no flowchart.

[0048] In the delivery server 30, the content storage unit 31 isoperated to store therein content information data indicative of acontent to be delivered to the content player 40. The contentinformation data stored in the content storage unit 31 may be in theformat of a still image file such as for example BMP, JPEG, or the like,and/or a moving image file such as for example MPEG or the like. Theschedule creating unit 32 is operated to create a schedule forreproducing the content on the basis of the content data stored in thecontent storage unit 31. The term “schedule” herein used is intended tomean a time at which the content is reproduced. The schedule storageunit 33 is operated to store therein schedule data indicative of theschedule created by the schedule creating unit 32. The data deliveringunit 34 is operated to deliver the content data through the internet 2.The content data is indicative of the content and the schedule forreproducing the content and created by the data delivering unit 34 onthe basis of the content information data stored in the content storageunit 31 and the schedule stored in the schedule storage unit 33 beforedelivered to the content player 40.

[0049] In the content player 40, the data receiving unit 41 is operatedto receive the content data delivered from the delivery server 30. Thedata storage unit 42 is operated to store therein the content datareceived by the data receiving unit 41. The data storage unit 42 may beconstituted by, for example, a hard disk having storage areas. The datareproducing unit 43 is operated to reproduce the content in accordancewith the schedule on the basis of the content data stored in the datastorage unit 42. The content is audibly outputted by the speaker unit 44a and visually outputted by the display unit 44 b at the contentreproducing place.

[0050] Furthermore, in the content player 40, the voice collecting unit45 is operated to collect voices spoken by people in the vicinity of thecontent reproducing place. The voice converting unit 46 is operated toconvert the voices collected by the voice collecting unit 45 intocharacter strings. The character string transmitting unit 47 is operatedto transmit character string data indicative of the character stringsconverted by the voice converting unit 46 to the delivery server 30through the internet 2.

[0051] Furthermore, in the delivery server 30, the character stringreceiving unit 35 is operated to receive the character string datatransmitted by the character string transmitting unit 47 of the contentplayer 40. The character string storage unit 36 is operated to storetherein the character string data. The evaluation chart creating unit 37is operated to create evaluation charts on the basis of the characterstrings indicated by the character string data stored in the characterstring storage unit 36. More specifically, the character stringsindicated by the character string data stored in the character stringstorage unit 36 constitute a plurality of words such as for example“cool”, “uncool”, “lovely”, “unpretty”, or the like. The evaluationchart creating unit 37 is operated to create the evaluation charts bycounting the frequency each of the words spoken for a plurality of timezones. The evaluation chart created by the evaluation chart creatingunit 37 may include any chart such as for example a bar chart, a piechart, a line graph, a table, or the like. As an example of theevaluation chart, a line graph is shown in FIG. 7. The line graph shownin FIG. 7 has a horizontal axis indicating the time zones and a verticalaxis indicating the frequency of each of the words, e.g., “lovely” and“unpretty” spoken by people in the vicinity of the content reproducingplace within each of the time zones. The evaluation chart display unit38 is operated to display the evaluation charts created by theevaluation chart creating unit 37. The evaluation chart display unit 38may be constituted by, for example, a monitor.

[0052] The content server may be owned by an advertising agency.Alternatively, the evaluation charts created by the evaluation chartcreating unit 37 may be provided to the advertising agency asassessments of the public awareness of and responses to the content.

[0053] From the foregoing description, it is to be understood that thesecond embodiment of the content delivering system according to thepresent invention comprising a delivery server for delivering contentdata indicative of a predetermined content and a schedule forreproducing the content; and a content player for receiving the contentdata delivered by the delivery server, and reproducing the predeterminedcontent in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content dataat a content reproducing place, and in which the content player includesa voice collecting unit 45 for collecting voices spoken by people in thevicinity of the content reproducing place, a voice converting unit 46for converting the voices collected by the voice collecting unit 45 intocharacter strings, and a voice converting unit 46 for converting thevoices into character strings, and the delivery server includes anevaluation chart creating unit 37 for creating evaluation charts on thebasis of the character strings, can visually represent the publicawareness of and responses to the content represented by the voices suchas “cool”, “uncool”, “lovely”, “unpretty”, or the like spoken by thepeople at the content reproducing place, thereby enabling to evaluatethe effect of the content delivering system without enormous man-hoursand expenses.

[0054] While it has been described in the above that the content playercomprises voice converting means, the voice converting means may beincluded in the delivery server in place of the content server as longas at least one of the delivery server and the content player includesvoice converting means in the content delivering system according to thepresent invention.

[0055] Referring to FIG. 3 of the drawings, there is shown a thirdembodiment of content delivering system comprising a delivery server 50for delivering content data indicative of a predetermined content and aschedule for reproducing the content; and a content player 60 forreceiving the content data delivered by the delivery server 50, andreproducing the predetermined content in accordance with the schedule onthe basis of the content data at a content reproducing place. In thecontent delivering system, the content player 60 is operative to recordimages in the vicinity of the content reproducing place; and transmitimage information data indicative of the images thus recorded in thevicinity of the content reproducing place.

[0056] The delivery server 50 comprises a content storage unit 51 forstoring therein content information data indicative of a predeterminedcontent, a schedule creating unit 52 for creating a schedule forreproducing the content, a schedule storage unit 53 for storing thereinschedule data indicative of the schedule created by the schedulecreating unit 52, and a data delivering unit 54 for delivering contentdata indicative of the content and the schedule on the basis of thecontent information data stored in the content storage unit 51 and theschedule stored in the schedule storage unit 53 to the content player 60through the internet 3.

[0057] The content player 60 comprises a data receiving unit 61 forreceiving the content data delivered from the delivery server 50, a datastorage unit 62 for storing therein the content data received by thedata receiving unit 61, a data reproducing unit 63 for reproducing thecontent in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content datastored in the data storage unit 62, a speaker unit 64 a for audiblyoutputting the content and a display unit 64 b for visually outputtingthe content. The speaker unit 64 a and the display unit 64 b are locatedat a content reproducing place such as for example an advertising tower.This means that the data reproducing unit 63 is operative to control thespeaker unit 64 a and the display unit 64 b to have the speaker unit 64a audibly reproduce and the display unit 64 b visually reproduce thecontent at the content reproducing place.

[0058] The content player 60 further comprises a peripheral imagerecording unit 68 for recording images of people in the vicinity of thecontent reproducing place, and a peripheral image transmitting unit 69for transmitting image information data indicative of the images thusrecorded by the peripheral image recording unit 68 to the deliveryserver 50 through the internet 3.

[0059] The delivery server 50 further comprises a peripheral imagereceiving unit 55 for receiving the image information data delivered bythe peripheral image transmitting unit 69 of the content player 60, aperipheral image storage unit 56 for storing therein the imageinformation data received by the peripheral image receiving unit 55, anda peripheral image display unit 57 for displaying the images indicatedby the image information data stored in the peripheral image storageunit 56. The peripheral image display unit 57 constitutes image displaymeans of the delivery server according to the present invention.

[0060] As will be seen from the above, there has been described only onecontent player 60 in the present embodiment of the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention for the purpose of simplifyingthe description and assisting in understanding about the whole operationof the content delivering system. In reality, the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention may comprise a plurality ofcontent players.

[0061] The delivery server 50 has a central processing unit, hereinlaterreferred to simply as a “CPU”, not shown in FIG. 3 for controlling thewhole operation of the delivery server 50. Similarly, the content player60 has a central processing unit, hereinlater referred to simply as a“CPU”, not shown in FIG. 3 for controlling the whole operation of thecontent player 60.

[0062] The following description will be directed to the processcontrolled by the CPUs of the delivery server 50 and the content player60 to employ the method of controlling the content delivering systemaccording to the present invention with no flowchart.

[0063] In the delivery server 50, the content storage unit 51 isoperated to store therein content information data indicative of acontent to be delivered to the content player 60. The contentinformation data stored in the content storage unit 51 may be in theformat of a still image file such as for example BMP, JPEG, or the like,and/or a moving image file such as for example MPEG or the like. Theschedule creating unit 52 is operated to create a schedule forreproducing the content on the basis of the content data stored in thecontent storage unit 51. The term “schedule” herein used is intended tomean a time at which the content is reproduced. The schedule storageunit 53 is operated to store therein schedule data indicative of theschedule created by the schedule creating unit 52. The data deliveringunit 54 is operated to deliver the content data through the internet 3.The content data is indicative of the content and the schedule forreproducing the content and created by the data delivering unit 54 onthe basis of the content information data stored in the content storageunit 51 and the schedule stored in the schedule storage unit 53 beforedelivered to the content player 60.

[0064] In the content player 60, the data receiving unit 61 is operatedto receive the content data delivered from the delivery server 50. Thedata storage unit 62 is operated to store therein the content datareceived by the data receiving unit 61. The data storage unit 62 may beconstituted by, for example, a hard disk having storage areas. The datareproducing unit 63 is operated to reproduce the content in accordancewith the schedule on the basis of the content data stored in the datastorage unit 62. The content is audibly outputted by the speaker unit 64a and visually outputted by the display unit 64 b at the contentreproducing place.

[0065] Furthermore, in the content player 60, the peripheral imagerecording unit 68 is operated to record images of people in the vicinityof the content reproducing place. The peripheral image transmitting unit69 is operated to transmit image information data indicative of theimages thus recorded by the peripheral image recording unit 68 to thedelivery server 50 through the internet 3.

[0066] Furthermore, in the delivery server 50, the peripheral imagereceiving unit 55 is operated to receive the image information datadelivered by the peripheral image transmitting unit 69 of the contentplayer 60. The peripheral image storage unit 56 is operated to storetherein the image information data received by the peripheral imagereceiving unit 55. The peripheral image display unit 57 is operated todisplay the images indicated by the image information data stored in theperipheral image storage unit 56. The peripheral image display unit 57may be constituted by, for example, a monitor. The peripheral imagedisplay unit 57 constitutes image display means of the delivery serveraccording to the present invention.

[0067] The content server may be owned by an advertising agency.Alternatively, the image information data recorded by the peripheralimage recording unit 68 in the vicinity of the content reproducing placemay be provided to the advertising agency as assessments of the publicawareness of and responses to the content.

[0068] From the foregoing description, it is to be understood that thethird embodiment of the content delivering system according to thepresent invention comprising a delivery server for delivering contentdata indicative of a predetermined content and a schedule forreproducing the content; and a content player for receiving the contentdata delivered by the delivery server, and reproducing the predeterminedcontent in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content dataat a content reproducing place, and in which the content player isoperative to record images in the vicinity of the content reproducingplace; and transmit image information data indicative of the images thusrecorded in the vicinity of the content reproducing place, can collectthe public awareness of and responses to the content represented by thepeople gathered around the content reproducing place, thereby enablingto evaluate the effect of the content delivering system without enormousman-hours and expenses.

[0069] Referring to FIG. 4 of the drawings, there is shown a fourthembodiment of content delivering system comprising a delivery server 70for delivering content data indicative of a predetermined content and aschedule for reproducing the content; and a content player 80 forreceiving the content data delivered by the delivery server 70, andreproducing the predetermined content in accordance with the schedule onthe basis of the content data at a content reproducing place. In thecontent delivering system, the content player 80 is operative to recordimages in the vicinity of the content reproducing place; and transmitimage information data indicative of the images thus recorded in thevicinity of the content reproducing place.

[0070] The delivery server 70 comprises a content storage unit 71 forstoring therein content information data indicative of a predeterminedcontent, a schedule creating unit 72 for creating a schedule forreproducing the content, a schedule storage unit 73 for storing thereinschedule data indicative of the schedule created by the schedulecreating unit 72, and a data delivering unit 74 for delivering contentdata indicative of the content and the schedule on the basis of thecontent information data stored in the content storage unit 71 and theschedule stored in the schedule storage unit 73 to the content player 80through the internet 4.

[0071] The content player 80 comprises a data receiving unit 81 forreceiving the content data delivered from the delivery server 70, a datastorage unit 82 for storing therein the content data received by thedata receiving unit 81, a data reproducing unit 83 for reproducing thecontent in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content datastored in the data storage unit 82, a speaker unit 84 a for audiblyoutputting the content and a display unit 84 b for visually outputtingthe content. The speaker unit 84 a and the display unit 84 b are locatedat a content reproducing place such as for example an advertising tower.This means that the data reproducing unit 83 is operative to control thespeaker unit 84 a and the display unit 84 b to have the speaker unit 84a audibly reproduce and the display unit 84 b visually reproduce thecontent at the content reproducing place.

[0072] The content player 80 further comprises a peripheral imagerecording unit 88 for recording images of people in the vicinity of thecontent reproducing place, and a peripheral image transmitting unit 89for transmitting image information data indicative of the images thusrecorded by the peripheral image recording unit 88 to the deliveryserver 70 through the internet 4.

[0073] The delivery server 70 further comprises a peripheral imagereceiving unit 75 for receiving the image information data delivered bythe peripheral image transmitting unit 89 of the content player 80, aperipheral image storage unit 76 for storing therein the imageinformation data received by the peripheral image receiving unit 75,evaluation chart creating means constituted by an evaluation chartcreating unit 77 for creating evaluation charts on the basis of theimages indicated by the image information data stored in the peripheralimage storage unit 76, and evaluation chart display means constituted byan evaluation chart display unit 78 for displaying the evaluation chartscreated by the evaluation chart creating unit 77. The images recorded bythe peripheral image recording unit 88 in the vicinity of the contentreproducing place have thereon a plurality of people divided into aplurality of status groups such as for example groups by gender, groupsby age, groups by target category, or the like. The groups by genderinclude a group of men and a group of women. The groups by age include agroup of people in teens, a group of people in twenties, a group ofpeople in thirties, and/or the like. The groups by target categoryinclude a group of female senior high school students, female officeworkers, businessmen, and the like. The evaluation chart creating unit77 is operative to create the evaluation charts by counting the numberof people for each of the status groups for a plurality of time zones.

[0074] As will be seen from the above, there has been described only onecontent player 80 in the present embodiment of the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention for the purpose of simplifyingthe description and assisting in understanding about the whole operationof the content delivering system. In reality, the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention may comprise a plurality ofcontent players.

[0075] The delivery server 70 has a central processing unit, hereinlaterreferred to simply as a “CPU”, not shown in FIG. 4 for controlling thewhole operation of the delivery server 70. Similarly, the content player80 has a central processing unit, hereinlater referred to simply as a“CPU”, not shown in FIG. 4 for controlling the whole operation of thecontent player 80.

[0076] The following description will be directed to the processcontrolled by the CPUs of the delivery server 70 and the content player80 to employ the method of controlling the content delivering systemaccording to the present invention with no flowchart.

[0077] In the delivery server 70, the content storage unit 71 isoperated to store therein content information data indicative of acontent to be delivered to the content player 80. The contentinformation data stored in the content storage unit 71 may be in theformat of a still image file such as for example BMP, JPEG, or the like,and/or a moving image file such as for example MPEG or the like. Theschedule creating unit 72 is operated to create a schedule forreproducing the content on the basis of the content data stored in thecontent storage unit 71. The term “schedule” herein used is intended tomean a time at which the content is reproduced. The schedule storageunit 73 is operated to store therein schedule data indicative of theschedule created by the schedule creating unit 72. The data deliveringunit 74 is operated to deliver the content data through the internet 4.The content data is indicative of the content and the schedule forreproducing the content and created by the data delivering unit 74 onthe basis of the content information data stored in the content storageunit 71 and the schedule stored in the schedule storage unit 73 beforedelivered to the content player 80.

[0078] In the content player 80, the data receiving unit 81 is operatedto receive the content data delivered from the delivery server 70. Thedata storage unit 82 is operated to store therein the content datareceived by the data receiving unit 81. The data storage unit 82 may beconstituted by, for example, a hard disk having storage areas. The datareproducing unit 83 is operated to reproduce the content in accordancewith the schedule on the basis of the content data stored in the datastorage unit 82. The content is audibly outputted by the speaker unit 84a and visually outputted by the display unit 84 b at the contentreproducing place.

[0079] Furthermore, in the content player 80, the peripheral imagerecording unit 88 is operated to record images of people in the vicinityof the content reproducing place. The peripheral image transmitting unit89 is operated to transmit image information data indicative of theimages thus recorded by the peripheral image recording unit 88 to thedelivery server 70 through the internet 4.

[0080] Furthermore, in the delivery server 70, the peripheral imagereceiving unit 75 is operated to receive the image information datadelivered by the peripheral image transmitting unit 89 of the contentplayer 80. The peripheral image storage unit 76 is operated to storetherein the image information data received by the peripheral imagereceiving unit 75. The evaluation chart creating means 77 is operated tocreate evaluation charts on the basis of the images indicated by theimage information data stored in the peripheral image storage unit 76.More specifically, the images recorded by the peripheral image recordingunit 88 in the vicinity of the content reproducing place have thereon aplurality of people divided into a plurality of status groups such asfor example groups by gender, groups by age, groups by target category,or the like. The groups by gender include a group of men and a group ofwomen. The groups by age include a group of people in teens, a group ofpeople in twenties, a group of people in thirties, and/or the like. Thegroups by target category include a group of female senior high schoolstudents, female office workers, businessmen, and the like. Theevaluation chart creating unit 77 is operated to create the evaluationcharts by counting the number of people for each of the status groupsfor a plurality of time zones. The evaluation chart created by theevaluation chart creating unit 77 may include any chart such as forexample a bar chart, a pie chart, a line graph, a table, or the like. Asan example of the evaluation chart, a line graph is shown in FIG. 8. Theline graph shown in FIG. 8 has a horizontal axis indicating the timezones and a vertical axis indicating the number of people for each ofthe status groups, e.g., a group of female office workers designated bylegend A, a group of business men designated by legend B, and a group offemale senior high school students designated by legend C gathered inthe vicinity of the content reproducing place within each of the timezones. The peripheral image display unit 78 is operated to display theevaluation charts created by the evaluation chart creating unit 77.

[0081] The content server may be owned by an advertising agency.Alternatively, the evaluation charts created by the evaluation chartcreating unit 77 may be provided to the advertising agency asassessments of the public awareness of and responses to the content.

[0082] From the foregoing description, it is to be understood that thefourth embodiment of the content delivering system according to thepresent invention comprising a delivery server for delivering contentdata indicative of a predetermined content and a schedule forreproducing the content; and a content player for receiving the contentdata delivered by the delivery server, and reproducing the predeterminedcontent in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content dataat a content reproducing place, and in which the content player isoperative to record images in the vicinity of the content reproducingplace; and transmit image information data indicative of the images thusrecorded in the vicinity of the content reproducing place, and thedelivery server includes an evaluation chart creating unit for creatingevaluation charts on the basis of the character strings, can visuallyrepresent the public awareness of and responses to the contentrepresented by the number of people gathered around the contentreproducing place for each of status groups such as for example groupsby gender, groups by age, groups by target category, or the like,thereby enabling to evaluate the effect of the content delivering systemwithout enormous man-hours and expenses.

[0083] Referring to FIG. 5 of the drawings, there is shown a fifthembodiment of a content delivering system comprising a delivery server90 for delivering content data indicative of a predetermined content anda schedule for reproducing the content; and a content player 100 forreceiving the content data delivered by the delivery server 90, andreproducing the predetermined content in accordance with the schedule onthe basis of the content data at a content reproducing place. In thecontent delivering system, the content player 100 is operative tocollect voices and record images in the vicinity of the contentreproducing place; and transmit voice information data indicative of thevoices and image information data indicative of the images thus recordedin the vicinity of the content reproducing place.

[0084] The delivery server 90 comprises a content storage unit 91 forstoring therein content information data indicative of a predeterminedcontent, a schedule creating unit 92 for creating a schedule forreproducing the content, a schedule storage unit 93 for storing thereinschedule data indicative of the schedule created by the schedulecreating unit 92, and a data delivering unit 94 for delivering contentdata indicative of the content and the schedule on the basis of thecontent information data stored in the content storage unit 91 and theschedule stored in the schedule storage unit 93 to the content player100 through the internet 5.

[0085] The content player 100 comprises a data receiving unit 101 forreceiving the content data delivered from the delivery server 90, a datastorage unit 102 for storing therein the content data received by thedata receiving unit 101, a data reproducing unit 103 for reproducing thecontent in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content datastored in the data storage unit 102, a speaker unit 104 a for audiblyoutputting the content and a display unit 104 b for visually outputtingthe content. The speaker unit 104 a and the display unit 104 b arelocated at a content reproducing place such as for example anadvertising tower. This means that the data reproducing unit 103 isoperative to control the speaker unit 104 a and the display unit 104 bto have the speaker unit 104 a audibly reproduce and the display unit104 b visually reproduce the content at the content reproducing place.

[0086] The content player 100 further comprises a voice collecting unit105 for collecting voices spoken by people in the vicinity of thecontent reproducing place, a voice converting unit 106 for convertingthe voices collected by the voice collecting unit 105 into characterstrings, a character string transmitting unit 107 for transmittingcharacter string data indicative of the character strings converted bythe voice converting unit 106 to the delivery server 90 through theinternet 5, a peripheral image recording unit 108 for recording imagesof people in the vicinity of the content reproducing place, and aperipheral image transmitting unit 109 for transmitting imageinformation data indicative of the images thus recorded by theperipheral image recording unit 108 to the delivery server 90 throughthe internet 5. The voice converting unit 106 constitutes voiceconverting means according to the present invention.

[0087] The delivery server 90 further comprises a character stringreceiving unit 95 for receiving character string data transmitted by thecharacter string transmitting unit 107 of the content player 100, acharacter string storage unit 96 for storing therein the characterstring data, a character string display unit 96 a for displaying thecharacter strings on the basis of the character string data stored inthe character string storage unit 96, a peripheral image receiving unit98 for receiving the image information data delivered by the peripheralimage transmitting unit 109 of the content player 100, a peripheralimage storage unit 99 for storing therein the image information datareceived by the peripheral image receiving unit 98, and a peripheralimage display unit 99 a for displaying the images indicated by the imageinformation data stored in the peripheral image storage unit 99. Thecharacter string display unit 96 a constitutes character string displaymeans according to the present invention. The peripheral image displayunit 99 a constitutes image display means of the delivery serveraccording to the present invention.

[0088] As will be seen from the above, there has been described only onecontent player 100 in the present embodiment of the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention for the purpose of simplifyingthe description and assisting in understanding about the whole operationof the content delivering system. In reality, the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention may comprise a plurality ofcontent players.

[0089] The delivery server 90 has a central processing unit, hereinlaterreferred to simply as a “CPU”, not shown in FIG. 5 for controlling thewhole operation of the delivery server 90. Similarly, the content player100 has a central processing unit, hereinlater referred to simply as a“CPU”, not shown in FIG. 5 for controlling the whole operation of thecontent player 100.

[0090] The following description will be directed to the processcontrolled by the CPUs of the delivery server 90 and the content player100 to employ the method of controlling the content delivering systemaccording to the present invention with no flowchart.

[0091] In the delivery server 90, the content storage unit 91 isoperated to store therein content information data indicative of acontent to be delivered to the content player 100. The contentinformation data stored in the content storage unit 91 may be in theformat of a still image file such as for example BMP, JPEG, or the like,and/or a moving image file such as for example MPEG or the like. Theschedule creating unit 92 is operated to create a schedule forreproducing the content on the basis of the content data stored in thecontent storage unit 91. The term “schedule” herein used is intended tomean a time at which the content is reproduced. The schedule storageunit 93 is operated to store therein schedule data indicative of theschedule created by the schedule creating unit 92. The data deliveringunit 94 is operated to deliver the content data through the internet 5.The content data is indicative of the content and the schedule forreproducing the content and created by the data delivering unit 94 onthe basis of the content information data stored in the content storageunit 91 and the schedule stored in the schedule storage unit 93 beforedelivered to the content player 100.

[0092] In the content player 100, the data receiving unit 101 isoperated to receive the content data delivered from the delivery server90. The data storage unit 102 is operated to store therein the contentdata received by the data receiving unit 101. The data storage unit 102may be constituted by, for example, a hard disk having storage areas.The data reproducing unit 103 is operated to reproduce the content inaccordance with the schedule on the basis of the content data stored inthe data storage unit 102. The content is audibly outputted by thespeaker unit 104 a and visually outputted by the display unit 104 b atthe content reproducing place.

[0093] Furthermore, in the content player 100, the voice collecting unit105 is operated to collect voices spoken by people in the vicinity ofthe content reproducing place. The voice converting unit 106 is operatedto convert the voices collected by the voice collecting unit 105 intocharacter strings. The peripheral image recording unit 108 is operatedto record images of people in the vicinity of the content reproducingplace. The character string transmitting unit 107 is operated totransmit character string data indicative of the character stringsconverted by the voice converting unit 106 to the delivery server 90through the internet 5. The peripheral image transmitting unit 109 isoperated to transmit image information data indicative of the imagesthus recorded by the peripheral image recording unit 108 to the deliveryserver 90 through the internet 5.

[0094] Furthermore, in the delivery server 90, the character stringreceiving unit 95 is operated to receive the character string datatransmitted by the character string transmitting unit 107 of the contentplayer 100. The character string storage unit 96 is operated to storetherein the character string data. The character string display unit 96a is operated to display the character strings on the basis of thecharacter string data stored in the character string storage unit 96.The peripheral image receiving unit 98 is operated to receive the imageinformation data delivered by the peripheral image transmitting unit 109of the content player 100. The peripheral image storage unit 99 isoperated to store therein the image information data received by theperipheral image receiving unit 98. The peripheral image display unit 99a is operated to display the images indicated by the image informationdata stored in the peripheral image storage unit 99. The characterstring display unit 96 a constitutes character string display meansaccording to the present invention. The peripheral image display unit 99a constitutes image display means of the delivery server according tothe present invention. The character string display unit 96 a and theperipheral image display unit 99 a may be constituted by, for example, amonitor.

[0095] The content server may be owned by an advertising agency.Alternatively, the character strings converted from the voices such asfor example “cool”, “uncool”, “lovely”, “unpretty”, or the likecollected at the content reproducing place and the image informationdata recorded by the peripheral image recording unit 68 in the vicinityof the content reproducing place may be provided to the advertisingagency as assessments of the public awareness of and responses to thecontent.

[0096] From the foregoing description, it is to be understood that thefifth embodiment of the content delivering system according to thepresent invention comprising a delivery server for delivering contentdata indicative of a predetermined content and a schedule forreproducing the content; and a content player for receiving the contentdata delivered by the delivery server, and reproducing the predeterminedcontent in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content dataat a content reproducing place, and in which the content player isoperative to collect voices and record images in the vicinity of thecontent reproducing place; and transmit voice information dataindicative of the voices and image information data indicative of theimages thus recorded in the vicinity of the content reproducing place,can collect the public awareness of and responses to the contentrepresented by the people gathered around the content reproducing placeand the voices such as “cool”, “uncool”, “lovely”, “unpretty”, or thelike spoken by the people at the content reproducing place, therebyenabling to evaluate the effect of the content delivering system withoutenormous man-hours and expenses.

[0097] While it has been described in the above that the content playercomprises voice converting means, the voice converting means may beincluded in the delivery server in place of the content server as longas at least one of the delivery server and the content player includesvoice converting means in the content delivering system according to thepresent invention.

[0098] Referring to FIG. 6 of the drawings, there is shown a sixthembodiment of a content delivering system comprising a delivery server110 for delivering content data indicative of a predetermined contentand a schedule for reproducing the content; and a content player 120 forreceiving the content data delivered by the delivery server 110, andreproducing the predetermined content in accordance with the schedule onthe basis of the content data at a content reproducing place. In thecontent delivering system, the content player 120 is operative tocollect voices and record images in the vicinity of the contentreproducing place; and transmit voice information data indicative of thevoices and image information data indicative of the images thus recordedin the vicinity of the content reproducing place.

[0099] The delivery server 110 comprises a content storage unit 111 forstoring therein content information data indicative of a predeterminedcontent, a schedule creating unit 112 for creating a schedule forreproducing the content, a schedule storage unit 113 for storing thereinschedule data indicative of the schedule created by the schedulecreating unit 112, and a data delivering unit 114 for delivering contentdata indicative of the content and the schedule on the basis of thecontent information data stored in the content storage unit 111 and theschedule stored in the schedule storage unit 113 to the content player120 through the internet 6.

[0100] The content player 120 comprises a data receiving unit 121 forreceiving the content data delivered from the delivery server 110, adata storage unit 122 for storing therein the content data received bythe data receiving unit 121, a data reproducing unit 123 for reproducingthe content in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the contentdata stored in the data storage unit 122, a speaker unit 124 a foraudibly outputting the content and a display unit 124 b for visuallyoutputting the content. The speaker unit 124 a and the display unit 124b are located at a content reproducing place such as for example anadvertising tower. This means that the data reproducing unit 123 isoperative to control the speaker unit 124 a and the display unit 124 bto have the speaker unit 124 a audibly reproduce and the display unit124 b visually reproduce the content at the content reproducing place.

[0101] The content player 120 further comprises a voice collecting unit125 for collecting voices spoken by people in the vicinity of thecontent reproducing place, a voice converting unit 126 for convertingthe voices collected by the voice collecting unit 125 into characterstrings, a character string transmitting unit 127 for transmittingcharacter string data indicative of the character strings converted bythe voice converting unit 126 to the delivery server 110 through theinternet 6, a peripheral image recording unit 128 for recording imagesof people in the vicinity of the content reproducing place, and aperipheral image transmitting unit 129 for transmitting imageinformation data indicative of the images thus recorded by theperipheral image recording unit 128 to the delivery server 110 throughthe internet 6. The voice converting unit 126 constitutes voiceconverting means according to the present invention.

[0102] The delivery server 110 further comprises a character stringreceiving unit 115 for receiving character string data transmitted bythe character string transmitting unit 127 of the content player 120, acharacter string storage unit 116 for storing therein the characterstring data, first evaluation chart creating means constituted by afirst evaluation chart creating unit 116 a for creating first evaluationcharts on the basis of the character strings indicated by the characterstring data stored in the character string storage unit 116, firstevaluation chart display means constituted by a first evaluation chartdisplay unit 116 b for displaying the first evaluation charts created bythe first evaluation chart creating unit 116 a, a peripheral imagereceiving unit 118 for receiving the image information data delivered bythe peripheral image transmitting unit 129 of the content player 120, aperipheral image storage unit 119 for storing therein the imageinformation data received by the peripheral image receiving unit 118,second evaluation chart creating means constituted by a secondevaluation chart creating unit 119 a for creating second evaluationcharts on the basis of the images indicated by the image informationdata stored in the peripheral image storage unit 119, and secondevaluation chart display means constituted by a second evaluation chartdisplay unit 119 b for displaying the second evaluation charts createdby the second evaluation chart creating unit 119 a.

[0103] The character strings indicated by the character string datastored in the character string storage unit 116 constitute a pluralityof words such as for example “cool”, “uncool”, “lovely”, “unpretty”, orthe like. The first evaluation chart creating unit 116 a is adapted tocreate the first evaluation charts by counting the frequency of each ofthe words for a plurality of time zones.

[0104] The images recorded by the peripheral image recording unit 128 inthe vicinity of the content reproducing place have thereon a pluralityof people divided into a plurality of status groups such as for examplegroups by gender, groups by age, groups by target category, or the like.The groups by gender include a group of men and a group of women. Thegroups by age include a group of people in teens, a group of people intwenties, a group of people in thirties, and/or the like. The groups bytarget category include a group of female senior high school students,female office workers, businessmen, and the like. The second evaluationchart creating unit 119 a is operative to create the second evaluationcharts by counting the number of people for each of the status groupsfor a plurality of time zones.

[0105] As will be seen from the above, there has been described only onecontent player 120 in the present embodiment of the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention for the purpose of simplifyingthe description and assisting in understanding about the whole operationof the content delivering system. In reality, the content deliveringsystem according to the present invention may comprise a plurality ofcontent players.

[0106] The delivery server 110 has a central processing unit,hereinlater referred to simply as a “CPU”, not shown in FIG. 6 forcontrolling the whole operation of the delivery server 110. Similarly,the content player 120 has a central processing unit, hereinlaterreferred to simply as a “CPU”, not shown in FIG. 6 for controlling thewhole operation of the content player 120.

[0107] The following description will be directed to the processcontrolled by the CPUs of the delivery server 110 and the content player120 to employ the method of controlling the content delivering systemaccording to the present invention with no flowchart.

[0108] In the delivery server 110, the content storage unit 111 isoperated to store therein content information data indicative of acontent to be delivered to the content player 120. The contentinformation data stored in the content storage unit 111 may be in theformat of a still image file such as for example BMP, JPEG, or the like,and/or a moving image file such as for example MPEG or the like. Theschedule creating unit 112 is operated to create a schedule forreproducing the content on the basis of the content data stored in thecontent storage unit 111. The term “schedule” herein used is intended tomean a time at which the content is reproduced. The schedule storageunit 113 is operated to store therein schedule data indicative of theschedule created by the schedule creating unit 112. The data deliveringunit 114 is operated to deliver the content data through the internet 6.The content data is indicative of the content and the schedule forreproducing the content and created by the data delivering unit 114 onthe basis of the content information data stored in the content storageunit 111 and the schedule stored in the schedule storage unit 113 beforedelivered to the content player 120.

[0109] In the content player 120, the data receiving unit 121 isoperated to receive the content data delivered from the delivery server110. The data storage unit 122 is operated to store therein the contentdata received by the data receiving unit 121. The data storage unit 122may be constituted by, for example, a hard disk having storage areas.The data reproducing unit 123 is operated to reproduce the content inaccordance with the schedule on the basis of the content data stored inthe data storage unit 122. The content is audibly outputted by thespeaker unit 124 a and visually outputted by the display unit 124 b atthe content reproducing place.

[0110] Furthermore, in the content player 120, the voice collecting unit125 is operated to collect voices spoken by people in the vicinity ofthe content reproducing place. The voice converting unit 126 is operatedto convert the voices collected by the voice collecting unit 125 intocharacter strings. The peripheral image recording unit 128 is operatedto record images of people in the vicinity of the content reproducingplace. The character string transmitting unit 127 is operated totransmit character string data indicative of the character stringsconverted by the voice converting unit 126 to the delivery server 110through the internet 6. The peripheral image transmitting unit 129 isoperated to transmit image information data indicative of the imagesthus recorded by the peripheral image recording unit 128 to the deliveryserver 110 through the internet 6.

[0111] Furthermore, in the delivery server 110, the character stringreceiving unit 115 is operated to receive the character string datatransmitted by the character string transmitting unit 127 of the contentplayer 120. The character string storage unit 116 is operated to storetherein the character string data. The first evaluation chart creatingunit 116 a is operated to create first evaluation charts on the basis ofthe character strings indicated by the character string data stored inthe character string storage unit 116. The first evaluation chartdisplay unit 116 b is operated to display the first evaluation chartscreated by the first evaluation chart creating unit 116 a. Theperipheral image receiving unit 118 is operated to receive the imageinformation data delivered by the peripheral image transmitting unit 129of the content player 120. The peripheral image storage unit 119 isoperated to store therein the image information data received by theperipheral image receiving unit 118. The second evaluation chartcreating unit 119 a is operated to create second evaluation charts onthe basis of the images indicated by the image information data storedin the peripheral image storage unit 119. The second evaluation chartdisplay unit 119 b is operated to display the second evaluation chartscreated by the second evaluation chart creating unit 119 a.

[0112] The character strings indicated by the character string datastored in the character string storage unit 116 constitute a pluralityof words such as for example “cool”, “uncool”, “lovely”, “unpretty”, orthe like. The first evaluation chart creating unit 116 a is operated tocreate the first evaluation charts by counting the frequency of each ofthe words for a plurality of time zones. The first evaluation chartcreated by the evaluation chart creating unit 116 a may include anychart such as for example a bar chart, a pie chart, a line graph, atable, or the like. As an example of the evaluation chart, a line graphis shown in FIG. 7. The line graph shown in FIG. 7 has a horizontal axisindicating the time zones and a vertical axis indicating the frequencyof each of the words, e.g., “lovely” and “unpretty” spoken by people inthe vicinity of the content reproducing place within each of the timezones.

[0113] The images recorded by the peripheral image recording unit 128 inthe vicinity of the content reproducing place have thereon a pluralityof people divided into a plurality of status groups such as for examplegroups by gender, groups by age, groups by target category, or the like.The groups by gender include a group of men and a group of women. Thegroups by age include a group of people in teens, a group of people intwenties, a group of people in thirties, and/or the like. The groups bytarget category include a group of female senior high school students,female office workers, businessmen, and the like. The second evaluationchart creating unit 119 a is operated to create the second evaluationcharts by counting the number of people for each of the status groupsfor a plurality of time zones. The evaluation chart created by theevaluation chart creating unit 119 a may include any chart such as forexample a bar chart, a pie chart, a line graph, a table, or the like. Asan example of the evaluation chart, a line graph is shown in FIG. 8. Theline graph shown in FIG. 8 has a horizontal axis indicating the timezones and a vertical axis indicating the number of people for each ofthe status groups gathered in the vicinity of the content reproducingplace within each of the time zones. The line designated by legend A isintended to mean a group of female office workers, the line designatedby legend B is intended to mean a group of business men, and the linedesignated by legend C is intended to mean a group of female senior highschool students. The first evaluation chart display unit 116 b and thesecond evaluation chart display unit 119 b may be constituted by, forexample, monitors.

[0114] The content server may be owned by an advertising agency.Alternatively, the first evaluation charts created by the firstevaluation chart creating unit 116 a and the second evaluation chartscreated by the second evaluation chart creating unit 119 a may beprovided to the advertising agency as assessments of the publicawareness of and responses to the content.

[0115] From the foregoing description, it is to be understood that thesixth embodiment of the content delivering system according to thepresent invention comprising a delivery server for delivering contentdata indicative of a predetermined content and a schedule forreproducing the content; and a content player for receiving the contentdata delivered by the delivery server, and reproducing the predeterminedcontent in accordance with the schedule on the basis of the content dataat a content reproducing place, and in which the content player isoperative to collect voices and record images in the vicinity of thecontent reproducing place; and transmit voice information dataindicative of the voices and image information data indicative of theimages thus recorded in the vicinity of the content reproducing place,and the delivery server includes a first evaluation chart creating unitfor creating first evaluation charts on the basis of the characterstrings converted from the voices and a second evaluation chart creatingunit for creating second evaluation charts on the basis of the images,can visually represent the public awareness of and responses to thecontent represented by the voices such as “cool”, “uncool”, “lovely”,“unpretty”, or the like spoken by the people at the content reproducingplace, and the number of people gathered around the content reproducingplace for each of status groups such as for example groups by gender,groups by age, groups by target category, or the like, thereby enablingto evaluate the effect of the content delivering system without enormousman-hours and expenses.

[0116] While it has been described in the above that the content playercomprises voice converting means, the voice converting means may beincluded in the delivery server in place of the content server as longas at least one of the delivery server and the content player includesvoice converting means in the content delivering system according to thepresent invention.

[0117] The many features and advantages of the invention are apparentfrom the detailed specification and thus it is intended by the appendedclaims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention whichfall within the true spirit and scope thereof. Further, since numerousmodifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in theart, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact constructionand operation illustrated and described, and accordingly, all suitablemodifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling with the scopeof the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A content delivering system, comprising: adelivery server for delivering content data indicative of apredetermined content and a schedule for reproducing said content; and acontent player for receiving said content data delivered by saiddelivery server, and reproducing said predetermined content inaccordance with said schedule on the basis of said content data at acontent reproducing place, and in which said content player is operativeto collect voices in the vicinity of said content reproducing place; andtransmit voice information data indicative of said voices thus collectedin the vicinity of said content reproducing place.
 2. A contentdelivering system as set forth in claim 1, in which At least one of saiddelivery server and said content player includes voice converting meansfor converting said voices into character strings.
 3. A contentdelivering system as set forth in claim 2, in which said delivery serverincludes character string display means for displaying said characterstrings.
 4. A content delivering system as set forth in claim 3, inwhich said delivery server includes evaluation chart creating means forcreating evaluation charts on the basis of said character strings.
 5. Acontent delivering system as set forth in claim 4, in which saiddelivery server includes evaluation chart display means for displayingsaid evaluation charts.
 6. A content delivering system as set forth inclaim 4, in which said character strings constitute a plurality ofwords, and said evaluation chart creating means is operative to createsaid evaluation charts by counting the frequency of each of said wordsfor a plurality of time zones.
 7. A content delivering system,comprising: a delivery server for delivering content data indicative ofa predetermined content and a schedule for reproducing said content; anda content player for receiving said content data delivered by saiddelivery server, and reproducing said predetermined content inaccordance with said schedule on the basis of said content data at acontent reproducing place, and in which said content player is operativeto record images in the vicinity of said content reproducing place; andtransmit image information data indicative of said images thus recordedin the vicinity of said content reproducing place.
 8. A contentdelivering system as set forth in claim 7, in which said delivery serverincludes image display means for displaying said images.
 9. A contentdelivering system as set forth in claim 7, in which said delivery serverincludes evaluation chart creating means for creating evaluation chartson the basis of said images.
 10. A content delivering system as setforth in claim 9, in which said delivery server includes evaluationchart display means for displaying said evaluation charts.
 11. A contentdelivering system as set forth in claim 9, in which said images includethereon a plurality of people divided into a plurality of status groups,and said evaluation chart creating means is operative to create saidevaluation charts by counting the number of people for each of saidstatus groups for a plurality of time zones.
 12. A content deliveringsystem, comprising: a delivery server for delivering content dataindicative of a predetermined content and a schedule for reproducingsaid content; and a content player for receiving said content datadelivered by said delivery server, and reproducing said predeterminedcontent in accordance with said schedule on the basis of said contentdata at a content reproducing place, and in which said content player isoperative to collect voices and record images in the vicinity of saidcontent reproducing place; and transmit voice information dataindicative of said voices thus collected and image information dataindicative of said images thus recorded in the vicinity of said contentreproducing place.
 13. A content delivering system as set forth in claim12, in which said delivery server includes voice converting means forconverting said voices into character strings, character string displaymeans for displaying said character strings, and image display means fordisplaying said images.
 14. A content delivering system as set forth inclaim 13, in which said delivery server includes first evaluation chartcreating means for creating first evaluation charts on the basis of saidcharacter strings, and second evaluation chart creating means forcreating second evaluation charts on the basis of said images.
 15. Acontent delivering system as set forth in claim 14, in which saidcharacter strings constitute a plurality of words, said images includethereon a plurality of people divided into a plurality of status groups,said first evaluation chart creating means is operative to create saidfirst evaluation charts by counting the frequency of each of said wordsfor a plurality of time zones, and said second evaluation chart creatingmeans is operative to create said second evaluation charts by countingthe number of people for each of said status groups for a plurality oftime zones.